


Oppie Always Knows

by nagi_schwarz



Series: The Oppenheimer Effect [11]
Category: Stargate Atlantis, Stargate SG-1
Genre: AU, Crossover, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-09
Updated: 2016-05-09
Packaged: 2018-06-07 07:16:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,010
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6792907
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nagi_schwarz/pseuds/nagi_schwarz
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Written for the comment_fic prompt: "author's choice, author's choice, sometimes [character] swears that [animal of author's choice] is as smart as a human."</p><p>Oppie always knows when one of the boys wants to see him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Oppie Always Knows

“Sometimes,” JD said, “I swear Oppenheimer is as smart as a human.”  
  
“What makes you say that?” Rodney waited till Oppie hopped out of the car before he nudged the car door shut with his hip. Now that John was part of the Stargate Program (officially as a “civilian consultant”, more accurately as a human light switch), Rodney could bring some of his work home on the weekends so he could work at his own pace in the comfort of his pajamas, where make-out breaks were just as appropriate as coffee breaks. More often than not, he ended up at Casa Atlantica. And sometimes Oppie would deign to come along and grace the men with his company.  
  
“Oppie always knows when one of us really wants to see him,” JD said. “From the other side of town.”  
  
“That makes no sense.”   
  
“It’s true, though.” JD opened the front door and gestured for Rodney to precede him into the house.  
  
Rodney thanked JD for holding the door open for him - his arms were full with a box of Ancient artefacts as well as his laptop bag - and went into the house. Oppie made a beeline for the den where the other three were lounging. John and Evan were sprawled on the couch, battling it out in Street Fighter II and kicking at each other whenever the other pulled off a particularly impressive move.  
  
“Damn you and your bird kicks and your Chinese girl kung fu,” John grumbled.  
  
Evan grinned. “My elite Chinese girl kung fu.”  
  
“I’m worried at how proud you are of being a Chinese girl who isn’t wearing any pants.” JD plopped down on the couch between them and scooped up a bowl of popcorn. “Get him, Evan!”  
  
“Traitor,” John said, and his character sent Evan’s flying backwards.  
  
Oppie ignored all three of them and hopped up onto Cam’s lap. Cam was on the recliner, tucked beneath a blanket, dozing, a Harry Potter book open on his chest.  
  
“Is something wrong with Cam?” Rodney asked, keeping his voice low, even though Cam seemed unfazed by the noisy chaos on the couch beside him.  
  
Evan frowned. “Food poisoning. A couple of girls at school made him a giant birthday cupcake, only their baking skills were less than stellar, and Cam was too nice to, you know, not eat the entire thing.”  
  
Cam stirred and opened his eyes. A sleepy smile crossed his face, and he pushed his book aside, reached down and smoothed a hand over Oppie’s fur. Oppie purred. “Hey buddy,” Cam said, his drawl thicker with sleep. “I’ve missed you. Been wantin’ t’see you somethin’ fierce. C’mere.”  
  
Oppie eyed Cam for a moment, then crawled up the blanket, settling on Cam’s chest, and curled up again, tucking his nose against his tail and purring while Cam petted him some more.  
  
JD cast Rodney a knowing look.  
  
Rodney, having learned his lesson in the past, waited till the fight onscreen ended - Evan victorious - before leaning down to give John a kiss hello.  
  
“Lots of work this weekend?” John asked, eyeing the box of Ancient artefacts with thinly-veiled eagerness.  
  
“Not too much, just a few tests, some reports to write. Nothing strenuous. Not as strenuous as what I have planned for us, of course.” Rodney grinned and kissed John again, longer and more thoroughly.  
  
A pillow hit them both on the side of the head.  
  
“Get a room,” JD said.  
  
“I have a room, thanks,” John said. He threw his controller at JD, who caught it one-handed. Pilots had damn good reflexes. “Kick Evan’s ass for me. Come on, Rodney. Let’s get to work.”  
  
“Is that what the kids are calling it these days?” JD called after them.  
  
“Not kids,” John shot back, and dragged Rodney down the hall to his bedroom.  
  
They did get to the Ancient devices that weekend. Eventually.  
  
All weekend, Oppie hovered around Cam, sitting on his lap or across his shoulders or just next to him on the couch when they watched movies. Rodney thought back to the PTSD incident around Halloween, and he remembered Oppie had hung around Evan a lot. At the time Rodney had thought it was just because Oppie was hopeful Evan would spoil him while he went on a baking spree, but then he remembered how Oppie had come home from several visits with paint in his fur because he’d been hanging around while Evan painted too.

So Rodney watched, over the weeks that passed, noticed that Oppie chose to come with him over to John’s on a fairly deliberate basis, when Rodney had assumed it was random before. Oppie came and was JD’s furry little shadow for a few days after JD had a scare with a student and a gun during one of the Astronomy Bashes at Casa Atlantica. Oppie rode on Evan’s shoulders for a day after a particularly difficult therapy session. Oppie cuddled with Cam in his room while Cam had a Harry Potter read-a-thon after he got some bad news during one of his regular check-ins with the doctors at Walter Reed. And Oppie woke Rodney in the middle of the night, dropped his car keys on his face, and nudged him to the door the night John was having a terrible nightmare on the other side of town.  
  
For all that JD - and Jack O’Neill before him - had a tendency to play dumb, he was bright and observant, and one day he said, “What’s that thing on Oppie’s collar?”  
  
“Hm?” Rodney looked down at the little silver ornament dangling from Oppie’s collar. “I found it at a garage sale. It reminded me of the thing on the cat’s collar from Men In Black. I thought it was whimsical. Why?”  
  
“Because it flares blue whenever John pets Oppie. Or I pet Oppie. Or Evan pets Oppie.”  
  
Immediately all five men crowded around Oppie, who was curled on the couch in a patch of warm sunlight.  
  
John reached out, ran a hand over Oppie’s fur, and there it was, the faintest flare of blue. Ancient blue.


End file.
